Good News from Rothschild and Piniella

The Cubs lost to Philadelphia on Saturday, May 12, 2007. This was the third defeat in what figures to be a long losing streak.

Before we all meet at the corner of Clark and Addison to share a tub of rat poison, Larry Rothschild, pitching coach, and Lou Piniella, manager, want to give us some good news.

Carlos Zambrano’s right arm didn’t really fall off.

It seems that Zambrano had some trouble with his “mechanics.” Before each pitch, the ace right-hander grasped the ball appropriately for the pitch requested by catcher Barrett or catcher Blanco, depending on which one came to the game.

Then Zambrano held the ball high above his head before going into his windup.

This allowed opposing batters to see what pitch to expect, which gave them a better chance of getting a hit, provided they knew how pitchers hold the ball for each kind of pitch, i.e., fast ball, curve ball, slider, stripper, etc.

Both Rothschild and Piniella told Zambrano not to hold the ball high over his head before going into his windup, although they didn’t say where they did tell him to hold it.

Just to be on the safe side, Piniella also told both catchers not to write the kinds of pitches on a chalk board and hold it up for Zambrano to read.

Bring your own spoons to Clark and Addison. I can’t do everything for you.